#Understanding Internet Speeds and Connections ##How Internet Speed Is Delivered Your Cox Internet connection carries your plan speed to your Gateway—our combined modem and router device. Learn more about how internet connection and device wifi speeds work, and the different factors that can affect your service. #What Affects Internet Connection ## The Most Common Connection Roadblocks Your internet connection is always working to give you the best experience, but there are a few main factors at home that can affect your connection and speed: - **Your devices** - Older devices or hardware sometimes aren't equipped to support current speeds, and can only perform at a portion of the speeds available. - **Sharing connection** - When multiple devices are surfing, streaming and gaming at the same time, this can reduce your internet's overall bandwidth. - **Gateway position** - Distance, other electronics and physical structures between you and your Gateway (or router) can interfere with your connection speed. #Network Impacts on Internet Connection ## What to Know About Your Network The Cox network is made of thousands of nodes, each providing an enormous amount of bandwidth to a small group of residential addresses. Sometimes these connections are interrupted by external factors: ### Public internet traffic When video conferencing or streaming your favorite show, that content is sent to you from a third-party service through the public internet. But like a highway, traffic on the public internet occasionally slows down due to congestion. ### Network abuse Denial of Service attacks or exorbitant usage by an individual customer on the network can impact the experience of all customers. We keep an eye out for when this happens, and work to quickly address the issue to protect everyone's experience. ## Check Your Device's Wifi Speed If you're worried that your internet's not performing at its best on your device, run a HighSpeedInternet.com speed test. [Take the speed test](https://www.cox.com/residential/support/internet/speedtest.html) ## Looking for More - **[Troubleshooting slow speeds](https://www.cox.com/residential/support/troubleshooting-slow-internet-speeds.html)** - Internet moving slower than usual? We've got the steps to get back on track. - **[Fiber/Gigabit Internet](https://www.cox.com/residential/internet/articles/what-is-fiber-gigabit-internet.html)** - Learn about the 2 of the fastest residential internal technologies. - **[Internet plans](https://www.cox.com/residential/internet.html)** - Find the right speed and package to keep your home connected to everything. --- [Internet service details](https://www.cox.com/residential/internet/learn/speed.html#internetServiceDetailModal). All services and plans subject to [Cox's Residential Customer Term Agreement](https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/customer-service-agreement.html) (including mandatory arbitration provisions), [Acceptable Use Policy](https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/acceptable-use-policy.html) (including Cox's right to terminate service for abuse of network), and other [policies](https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/customer-service-agreement.html). See [Annual Notice Information](https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/annual-privacy-notice.html) for related information and your privacy rights as a Cox customer. For all Cox Communications policies regarding our services and business practices visit [www.cox.com/aboutus/policies.html](http://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies.html). All Cox Internet plans include 1.25 TB (1280 GB) per month of data usage. Unlimited and 500 GB Additional Data Plans can be added for an additional monthly charge. For data usage in excess of plan, 50 GB blocks of data will be automatically added for $10 each (max overage charge of $100 per month). Unused data does not roll over. See [Speeds and Data Plans](https://www.cox.com/aboutus/policies/speeds-and-data-plans.html) Information for more details on internet service and data plans. See [cox.com/datausage](https://www.cox.com/residential/internet/learn/data-usage.html) for more details on data usage. Prices, and/or when applicable, term agreements, may differ from those presented here as a result of customer's existing account features, such as pricing, bundles, term agreements, or service address. Pricing, packages, and policies are subject to change. Other restrictions may apply.